American political life has gotten a little more interesting as young, inexperienced individuals’ minds full of Marxist theory are winning Democratic primaries in mostly “blue” cities and states. Led by the team of smooth-talking antisemitic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and millionaire Sen. Bernie Sanders, progressives pulled off three primary victories in New York City. The sickness is also spreading as seen in blue Colorado where Democratic socialist Melat Kiros beat U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in a Colorado House primary in a stunning victory.

As all this craziness has transpired, oldline Democrats have been cowering. But now in mortal fear of being primaried by the radical social Democrats and seeing the way the political winds are blowing in some quarters, they are claiming that the Democratic Party is still a big tent and that now the radical socialists are welcome wholeheartedly in that tent even though there are indications that the tent is in danger of collapsing on them.

These new Democratic tent dwellers are called progressives and Democratic-Socialist, but I will call them what they truly are, old-style Marxists who espouse the communist ideology that fired the hearts and minds of monsters named Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Castro. A 1997 study estimated the worldwide death toll of dissidents to communist rule at approximately 100 million. These deaths were caused by mass executions, forced labor camps and artificial famines used to punish recalcitrant regions and peoples. This is because followers of Marxism will do whatever is necessary to protect the revolution.

We hope Marxism will never come to America, but it could happen here. Venezuela, before the Marxists were voted into power in 1999, was the most prosperous nation in Latin America affording its citizens a good standard of living.

When Hugo Chávez took office in 1999 after winning on a populist platform, Venezuela experienced an initial period of poverty reduction and improved social services. However, a period of intense radicalization following a failed 2002 coup attempt pushed his administration to completely break from capitalism. What followed was one of the most severe economic and humanitarian collapses in modern history. The transition completely transformed the nation from one of Latin America’s wealthiest economies into a highly repressive, economically devastated state.

The problem with communism is that while it might look good in the beginning it tends to run downhill. The problem with Marxism is that it does not account for human nature while the beauty of capitalism and the reason for its success is that it does account for human nature. During the 20th Century, 16 communist governments were created. As of 2026 only China, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba remain and except for North Korea all have adopted market-based economies. There is little doubt amongst economists that communism is a failed economic and social system.

Some Americans look with interest at the socialist model adopted by some European nations who levy high taxes to fund cradle to grave social plans. It might appear attractive, but these nations suffer from a lack of investment in industry and research which has led to a lack of innovation, and little real job growth.

With Marxist doctrine and communism becoming more accepted in this nation I think that it is incumbent that all Americans are aware of their vision for the United States. To begin, the vision for America held by American Marxists centers on dismantling corporate-dominated systems to achieve complete economic, social, and foreign policy transformation.

They see capitalism as a “rigged system” controlled by Wall Street, real estate, and tech billionaires whose power they want to check. They want to tax all billionaires to pay for cradle to grave social programs like “Medicare for all,” a federally backed minimum wage. They want to abolish ICE leaving our borders open to more millions of illegal aliens with the unstated goal of destabilizing American society. These and other objectives will stifle innovation and investment in many fields resulting in a serious contraction of our economy with low job and wage growth. There is little doubt that not only will billionaires be taxed at higher rates but in the end so will most of us. Former British Prime minister Margaret Thatcher once said of socialism that it works well until you run out of other people’s money.

So, if their vision of America is badly flawed, why the love affair with Marxism? I blame K- 12 systems and our universities. It is my belief as a former college history major who still reads extensively in history that our grade schools are doing a terrible job of teaching the story of America to our young people. They also seem to do an equally poor job of teaching world history and American civics. Many of these students go on to college where their scant knowledge of the above subjects will make them easy prey for professors who would indoctrinate them in the glories of Marxism, the faults of Democratic capitalism, and the numerous faults and shortcomings of America.

Finally, I want to end on a high note. After attending and viewing Independence Day celebrations across the nation I have concluded that this great nation and its people will not allow the so-called Marxist wave to be more than a ripple.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com